Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
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Plex is a media management system that takes your entire collection of movies, music,
and photos making them available to all media devices in the connected home. With
support for streaming music, high definition video, and photo sharing, Plex is an
excellent way to centralize and share all of your rich media content on a Drobo. This not
only provides significantly increased throughput supporting multiple simultaneous
streams, but also ensures that data is stored in a redundant manner protecting content
from data loss due to a potential hard drive failure.
Like a Drobo, Plex does not require advanced IT knowledge to configure and interface with the devices. Utilizing
standards based DLNA technology; Plex offers out of the box support by nearly all network enabled televisions and
media devices. On the go, MyPlex offers access to all content stored on the Drobo streaming to mobile (iOS and
Android) devices using a standard broadband internet connections.
NOTE - Plex supports multiple video, audio, and photo formats for full details please visit their website. There are
features that Plex offers that we will not be covered in this guide.
Topics
Provisioning Drobo Storage
Configuring Plex Media Manager
Accessing Plex Content Locally
Accessing Plex Content from DLNA enabled devices
What You Will Need
• Drobo NAS (FS/5N/B800FS) or DAS (Mini/5D)
• The Latest Drobo Dashboard management software
http://www.drobo.com/support/updates.php
• OS X 10.7/10.8 or Windows 7/8
• Latest version of Plex Media Center
http://www.plexapp.com/download/plex-media-center.php
• Latest version of Plex Media Server
http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/index.php
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
2
Prerequisites
This document assumes that the Drobo to be utilized with Plex has been installed and is accessible from the host
computer. If the initial configuration has not been completed, reference the URL below for installation instructions.
http://www.drobo.com/start/
Both Plex Media Server and Plex Media Center must be installed on the host computer. The download links to both
applications can be found in the What You Will Need section of this document. The installations can be performed
accepting all defaults, as any customizations will be configured later in this document.
NOTE: Once the Plex Media Server installation completes, a dialog will appear to create a MyPlex account. This is
an optional service that will allow social and mobile sharing of content stored in the Plex Media Server. For more
information on MyPlex, consult the URL below.
https://my.plexapp.com/
Provisioning Drobo Storage
STEP 1
Load the Drobo
Dashboard and select the
Drobo that will be used to
store Plex content
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
3
As both the NAS and DAS Drobos are compatible with Plex, the next steps are split between
connectivity types.
• If the Drobo has been previously formatted/initialized, move to step #4
• For DAS (5D/Mini) Follow the directions in step #2
• For NAS (5N/FS) Follow the directions in step #3
STEP 2A – DAS (5D/Mini)
The Drobo Dashboard will
automatically select a
Format Type
recommended for the host
operating system.
Click Next to continue.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
4
STEP 2B
To take advantage of thin
provisioning and instant
expandability features of
BeyondRAID, it is
recommended that a 16TB
thinly provisioned volume
be created.
Click Next to continue.
STEP 2C
Enter a name for the
volume that will be
created on the Drobo and
click Next to continue.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
5
STEP 3A
While a dedicated share is
not required for Plex, it is
recommended.
Click the Shares link on
the left pane to access the
share list.
STEP 3B
If no administrator
username and password
was specified during
initialization, the
Dashboard will prompt to
create one.
Click OK to create an
administrative account.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
6
STEP 3C
Enter an administrator
username and password
that will be used to
manage the Drobo.
Enter a Username and
Password and click OK
to save the account
settings.
NOTE – Make a note of
the account credentials.
This will be required
before any changes to the
shares or configuration
can be made.
STEP 3D
Click Add to create a new
share on the 5N. In this
example the newly
created share is named
Plex_Media.
In this example the user
access is set to Everyone
allowing access to the
share without a password.
To restrict access, click
the Users tab to create an
additional user.
Click OK to create the
share.
NOTE – The share user
must have write access
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
7
STEP 3E
Once the share has been
added, click to have it
mapped to the host.
NOTE – On Windows
hosts the Dashboard will
prompt for a drive letter.
Any available drive letter
can be selected.
Configuring Plex Media Manager
Although media can be added to the Plex directory at any time, it is recommended that some content be copied to
the Drobo, as it will be used during the initial configuration steps. This provides a visual confirmation that the steps
were followed correctly. Plex can monitor multiple directories and separating music, videos, and photos into separate
folders is recommended.
STEP 1
Launch the Plex Media
Server application from
the Applications Folder
or Windows Start Menu
Click on the Plex icon
located in the OSX toolbar
or task bar on a Windows
host. Select Media
Manager.
Once at this screen move
to the next step.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
8
STEP 2
The default web browser
will be automatically
launched and the Media
Manager application
loaded.
STEP 3
To add a folder to the
Media Server, click the +
button in the My Library
section
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
9
STEP 4
For this example, a
directory containing
movies will be added to
Plex.
Click the Movies icon.
STEP 5
In the Name field, enter a
name that describes the
content being added.
Click the Add a Folder
button to specify the
location of the content that
was copied to the Drobo.
STEP 6
Click Browse Folders to
navigate to the folder on
the Drobo.
STEP 7
Click on the Drobo drive
or share
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
10
STEP 8
Continue to navigate to
the content directory.
Highlight the directory and
click Add Folder.
In this example the folder
HD located on the Drobo
5D contains videos that
will be added to Plex.
STEP 9
Verify that the common
name and folder location
are correct.
Click Add Section to add
the content to Plex.
NOTE - Plex will now scan the entire media library inside the selected folder. The process of building the media
library can take some time if a large amount of content was added.
For addition types of media or multiple locations containing similar content, repeat the steps in this section adding
additional source folders.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
11
STEP 10
Once the scan is
complete, icons for the
media type added will now
be available. Click on the
Movies icon and verify
that content is now
available in the Media
Manager.
Plex is now configured
and ready for use locally
or by other network
enabled devices.
Accessing Plex Content Locally
While content can be access from the Media Manager, for the best experience launch the Plex Media Center
application.
STEP 1
Launch the Plex Media
Server application from
the Applications Folder
or Windows Start Menu
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
12
STEP 2
Once Plex Media Center
has loaded, use the arrow
keys to navigate through
the menu system.
Navigate to Movies and
press Return.
STEP 3
Select All Movies to
display a list of all video
content indexed from the
Drobo.
Drobo How-To Guide
Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
drobo.com | Creating a Home Media Server with Plex and Drobo Storage
13
STEP 4
Select a movie and press
Return to begin playing
the movie.
NOTE – When new
content is added to a
source folder on the
Drobo, Plex will
automatically add it to the
media management
system.
Accessing Plex Content from DLNA enabled devices
Once the initial configuration of Plex has completed, support for DLNA enabled devices is automatically enabled.
Follow the configuration instructions from the device manufacture to enable DLNA and discover the Plex server. As
DLNA utilizes universal plug and play, there is no network configuration information required. For more information
on Plex DNLA support, consult the URL below.
http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/How_do_I_connect_my_DLNA_device_to_Plex_Media_Server_running_o
n_my_computer
NOTE - The Plex server will appear in the DLNA autodiscovery with the same name as the hostname set in the
operating system (OSX/Windows). To change this display name, go to Settings -> General in the Plex Media
Manager and update the Friendly Name field.
Drobo ! 2460 North First Street, Suite 100, San Jose, CA ! www.drobo.com ! 1.866.97.DROBO
Copyright 2013 Drobo, Inc. Data Robotics, Drobo, DroboEllite, DroboPro, BeyondRAID, and Smart Volumes are trademarks of
Drobo, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.
All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. ! March 2013
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